


After Haley's Hope

by JWade



Series: Financial Aid [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, M/M, Tear Rating: 10/10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-02-12 13:17:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12960018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JWade/pseuds/JWade
Summary: Nearly twenty years after developing his cure, a visitor shows up on Gabriel and Sam's doorstep with grave news.





	1. Chapter 1

Most people would have called it a career after developing the cure for cancer by fifty years old, but not Gabriel. He took a little time off to do some research on his own before deciding what track he wanted his official research to take from there. Cystic Fibrosis. It was a bit outside his specialty, but not by much, and his mind was certainly still quick enough to catch up. He had done a lot of research into genetics when looking into the cancer cure anyway, so the groundwork was already laid. 

He did slow down a little bit though. He wasn’t getting any younger, after all. He still made sure that he and Sam had plenty of time together, not willing to make the same mistakes again. Almost losing everything once was bad enough. He wasn’t going to let it happen again. One good thing about the cancer cure was that he definitely wasn’t lacking in research grants. People were more than eager to see what he could do with another disease thought incurable. 

Sam had retired from law when he turned sixty, and Dean had retired at the same time, having plenty of money put back for it thanks to Sam and Gabriel. He had been able to take the proceeds from the sale of his house and shop and buy an even bigger shop that was very successful. Selling that when he retired gave him more than enough to live the rest of his life comfortably, even before the million that Sam and Gabriel had given him. He had protested, of course, but they just told him that they had no one else to give it to, and he would be getting half their fortune in their will anyway if they died first, not that anyone expected that to happen with Dean’s lifestyle. He finally accepted, but changed his will for everything to go to the Haley’s Hope foundation when he died, just as Sam and Gabriel’s will was if Dean didn’t outlive them. 

Sam found himself rather lost in retirement though, not sure what to do with himself. He had gone straight from high school to long hours in college to long hours as a lawyer, and having so much free time was a novel experience. After considering the matter for a while he decided that he might like to write a book. He had enjoyed writing for the newspaper in college, after all, and he had a whole lifetime of experiences to share and no one to share them with. It would be like his memoirs. It would take a little work not to let it read like the legal briefs he was so used to submitting, but it would be fun. 

Gabriel, once Sam retired, went to only part time research, wanting to spend more time with his husband. He just couldn’t let himself give it up completely. Not when he could still do good in the world. He would work as long as he could manage. There were still children out there who needed him. He knew the risks at his age though, so made sure to document everything he did thoroughly, spending some time each day translating his notes from his own shorthand into something someone else could follow if they needed to. 

 

Sam had been sitting in his office, working on his memoirs when he heard the doorbell, and he shuffled down the stairs confused. The only person who ever came by was Dean who never bothered with the doorbell and just walked right in. Unless Gabriel had made some breakthrough he forgot to mention and the reporters were circling again, he had no idea who could be at the door. He opened it to see a young woman standing there, couldn’t have been more than mid-twenties. The first thing that struck him was her resemblance to Gabriel. Well, not really. She looked nothing like Gabriel in most ways. She had long curly black hair, and her features were very different, but it was the eyes. She had the same unique golden eyes that Gabriel had, and it took a moment to realize that she hadn’t said anything since he opened the door. “Yes?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. 

“Are you Gabriel?” she asked. 

“No. I’m his husband, Sam,” he said leadingly, waiting for an introduction from her. 

“Oh. I’m sorry. My name is Lilian. Lilian Shurley. I was…hoping I could speak to Gabriel?” she asked nervously. 

Sam remembered her name. How could he forget it? This was Michael’s granddaughter. The one that had leukemia before Gabriel’s cure. He knew that as much as Gabriel hated his brother, he would want to meet this girl. “Please. Come in,” Sam said stepping aside to let her past. “Gabriel is still in the lab right now, but he should be home in an hour or two. Can I get you anything?” 

“Maybe something to drink?” she asked hopefully. Her nerves were causing her throat to be rather parched. 

“Sure. We have soda, milk, tea, or water,” Sam offered. 

“Tea would be wonderful,” she told him with a grateful smile. 

When he returned with the tea, Sam asked, “Do you mind if I ask why you’re here?” 

“A few reasons. Some I would rather wait for Gabriel to talk about,” she said, not wanting to go through it more than once, “but also to thank him for saving my life, despite what my grandfather had done to him.”

“You were still his family. And you were a child. One thing you must understand about Gabriel is that he will never allow a child to suffer for any reason. Especially one that shares his blood.”

“And that’s why I wanted to give him my thanks in person,” she said with a smile. She had read enough about her uncle to know that. 

“Do you know why he worked so hard on the cure?” Sam asked. 

“Your daughter, Haley,” Lilian said. She’d heard the story. Everyone had. Even as a child it had brought her to tears. She remembered listening to his Nobel speech from her hospital room as she recovered. 

“Yes. Come. Let me show you something,” Sam told her, getting up. She followed him up the stairs and he opened the door to Haley’s room and stepped in. It was still done up with the pink furniture and princess bed and the My Little Pony wallpaper though it was all rather faded after all these years. “This was her room.”

“It’s beautiful. I bet she loved it,” Lilian said, not sure what else to say. 

“She did. She used to say it was the ‘bestest room in the whole world’, but then before she came to live with us she had never seen the outside of a hospital, so I’m not sure how much that meant,” Sam said with a chuckle. It had gotten easier talking about her over the years. To the point that he was eager to talk about her to anyone who would listen, not that many people got far enough into the house to see her room. 

Lilian could see that he wanted to talk about her, knowing the tendency of older people to reminisce when you let them, so she asked, “Do you have pictures of her?” 

“Do I?” Sam chuckled, leading her back down to the living room and pulling out a stack of photo albums. Gabriel had made a habit of chronicling the lives of the children in his care in the hospital. He hadn’t had time to do much, but a few pictures of happier times every so often wasn’t too much trouble. He had gotten copies of the pictures of Haley when they took her in, so they had pictures of her going back to the time she was three years old. He had heard the stories from Gabriel many times as they looked through these albums and related them with ease to the young woman who seemed so interested. Once they got her home though, there were a lot more pictures. Sam was a bit of a shutterbug, not wanting to miss a minute, and more importantly, not wanting Gabriel to miss a minute while he was working, so there were hundreds of pictures of her over the three and a half years they were together. He showed Lilian the pictures of the My Little Pony rocking horse Dean made her, times in the pool, birthday parties, trips to the park, everything. 

They had just started the second of three photo albums when Sam heard the door open and Gabriel’s voice call, “Sammy?” He had noticed the extra car in the drive and was confused about who would be here that Sam would actually let in the house. 

“In the living room, love,” Sam called. 

Lilian jumped to her feet, her nerves returning with a vengeance now that Gabriel was actually here, and Gabriel stepped in the room and looked at her, taking in her mood with a glance, and looked to Sam amusedly, trying to defuse the situation. “Well I always knew you might trade me in for a younger model, but I didn’t expect you to go that young,” he teased. 

Sam chuckled and walked over, kissing Gabriel in greeting before he said, “Gabriel, this is Lilian Shurley.”

He heard Gabriel suck in a sharp breath at her name before he stepped forward and wrapped her in a warm hug. “It’s so good to meet you child. I am glad to see that you’re doing well. Dr. Monroe told me you had made it, but you never know with these things. What brings you all this way? Can I get you anything?” 

She visibly relaxed at the hug, glad that she was greeted warmly. “I’m okay, thanks. I’m here for a few reasons, but most of all I just wanted to thank you.”

“No thanks are needed,” Gabriel brushed it off as he went to sit, motioning her to do the same. He picked up the open photo album and looked wistfully at the smiling face looking up from the page before he set it aside, turning his attention to his guest, while leaning against his husband’s side. “You know why I did it,” he assumed. 

“I know why you created the cure, but Grandpa told me how you sent your personal stock to help me even before it was released just because I might not make it that long even after everything he did to you,” she said, determined to point out that what he did for her was far more than just creating the cure. 

Gabriel visibly tensed at the mention of her grandfather and their past. “My history with your grandfather didn’t even play a part in my decision. No child, no matter their family, deserves to suffer.”

“Still. There were probably plenty of other children who could have used it. Children who could have been worse than me even. Yet, you sent it for me,” she pointed out. She wasn’t going to let him weasel his way out of accepting her gratitude. 

“You are family,” Gabriel said quietly. “Despite everything else, you are still family. And completely innocent of any of the bad blood before you.”

“And that’s why you’re a great man…Uncle Gabriel?” she asked biting her lip at the appellation, hoping he would allow it. 

Gabriel nodded and gave her a wide smile. He liked the sound of that. “Still, I don’t think you came all this way to thank an old man,” he said leadingly. 

“You’re right. I didn’t. I wanted…well…I know that Grandpa was horrible to you…” Sam put a hand over Gabriel’s to keep him from stopping her. He wanted to see where this was going. “But…I thought maybe…you might like some closure or something…I’m sorry, if I’m overstepping my bounds…but…” she handed out a letter. 

“What is this?” Gabriel asked, not reaching out to take it. When he saw that Gabriel wasn’t going to, Sam did. He would hold onto it for now. 

“It’s a letter. He’s…he’s dying. He doesn’t know I’m bringing it to you now. It was supposed to come to you after he was gone, but I wanted to make sure…you had a chance to say goodbye…if you wanted to take it,” Lilian told him. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Gabriel asked, not addressing the emotional part of the situation and just letting his doctor training take over. 

“He’s just old. His body is shutting down. He turned seventy-eight this year,” she pointed out. It wasn’t an illness taking him down. Just old age. He hadn’t lived the healthiest life after all. 

“Is he that old?” Gabriel said with a tense chuckle. “Time does fly.”

“Well you’re about to turn seventy,” Sam pointed out amusedly, trying to add a bit of levity to the situation. 

“Well that’s just a mean thing to remind someone of,” Gabriel pouted theatrically, glad for his husband’s distraction. After all these years, he knew what Gabriel needed better than Gabriel himself did. “Besides you’re only a month younger than me, old man.” 

Lilian smiled at them. She was glad that Gabriel had found happiness after everything and any casual observer could see how much they loved each other. “How long have you been married, if you don’t mind my asking?” 

“Almost forty-three years,” Sam said, pressing a kiss to his husband’s temple. “But we’ve only been together for forty-two,” he added, enjoying the confusion on her face. An old man got so few pleasures in life as confusing the young. 

Gabriel laughed and had pity on her after a moment. “We were basically strangers when we got married so we could get financial aid to go to college. After a while, we realized there was really something there, and gave it a shot, and here we are, almost half a century later.” It suddenly dawned on him, telling that story here, in front of his niece, talking about his brother, that if all that nastiness hadn’t happened, he never would have met Sam. He never would have had such a wonderful life. He never would have had Haley, or the sheer stubborn determination that allowed him to develop Haley’s Hope. In a weird way, he owed his life to Michael and his other brothers and father, just as much as he did to Sam, and that thought threw him for a loop. 

Lilian could see that he was struggling with something, and decided not to take up much more of his time. “Can I just show you one more thing before I go?” she asked, and Gabriel nodded. She pulled a small album out of her purse and came to sit next to them on the couch. “This is my son. Gabriel.” She said as she showed him the pictures, and Gabriel felt the tears springing to his eyes at that. 

“How old is he?” Gabriel asked reaching out to run a finger over the picture of the boy that looked so much like he had at that age, seeing why when a family picture came up. He had inherited his father’s blonde hair, and his mother’s golden eyes that had come from Gabriel’s own mother. His features tended more towards Gabriel’s side of the family, making the boy nearly a carbon copy of his great great uncle. 

“He’s nine now. When I told him I was coming to see you, he wanted to draw you a picture,” Lilian said hesitantly before taking the folded up paper out of her purse. 

Gabriel took it like it was more precious than the crown jewels and slowly opened it. It was an excellent drawing for a nine-year-old. It showed a blonde-haired doctor leaning over a child in a hospital bed and both were smiling. “It’s wonderful,” Gabriel told him. “He has real talent.”

“He can’t decide if he wants to be an artist or a doctor when he grows up,” she told him. 

Gabriel motioned her to follow him into the kitchen where the picture joined a few of Haley’s faded pictures that were still on the fridge. “I’m sure he would be great at either,” Gabriel said. 

“Well, I’ll get out of your hair and let you get back to your days,” she said with a smile before she was wrapped up in another hug from Gabriel. 

“Don’t be a stranger, child. You’re always welcome. As are your husband and son,” Gabriel told her, getting her phone number in the process. 

“Thank you, Uncle Gabriel,” she said happily, promising to keep in touch. 

As she was heading out, Gabriel stopped her. “Wait…what hospital is your grandfather in?” 

“The University of Kansas hospital,” Lilian said, not bothering to ask if he was going to go see him. She doubted Gabriel himself knew the answer to that question yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam knew before any question of Gabriel going to see Michael, would be the question of reading the letter. “Gabriel?” Sam asked handing him the letter, but Gabriel shook his head. “You should read it,” Sam urged. No matter Gabriel’s decision, he deserved to see what Michael had to say. 

“You read it,” Gabriel said walking upstairs to lock himself in his office for a while. 

Sam sighed, but decided it was probably a good idea for him to read it first anyway. Just to make sure it was something Gabriel would actually want to read. He opened the envelope and pulled out the letter, taking in the loopy scrawl that was more than a little shaky in spots. He read the entire letter three times before he went upstairs and knocked on Gabriel’s office door. That was one thing they had always done over the years. The office was the sanctuary even from each other. Everything else was shared, but the offices, they always knocked. “Come in,” Gabriel said wearily.

“You really need to read this,” Sam said holding out the open letter. 

“Okay,” Gabriel sighed. He would trust Sam’s judgement on the matter. 

Gabriel,

I know why you never believed in the sincerity of my regret and I don’t blame you for that. This letter is not to convince you of that. This is to give you the peace and closure that you deserve once I’m gone. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but I am the last of us other than you, and I think that’s fitting. The best of us will outlast the worst. Ralph and Luke both died about ten years ago in a car accident and Dad died a few years after you started at Stanford. Yes, I knew where you went to school. I always kept tabs on you over the years, but that’s beside the point. You deserve the peace and closure that I never got, and quite frankly, don’t deserve. 

First, let me start by telling you what happened all those years ago. I’m sure you remember the words and the screaming, so I won’t rehash that, but I know you probably weren’t in any shape to register what happened once that first punch was thrown. I can’t explain our brother’s actions, but I can and will explain my own, poor as those explanations may be. I’m sure you remember that I threw the first punch, and quite a few after that, but I stopped once you were down. Luke and Ralph were the ones who kept it up. Ralph pulled the knife and started cutting you up while Luke just kept stomping on you. I wish I had an excuse of why I didn’t stop it from going so far, but I don’t. I was just frozen. When Dad told them to stop because a dead body was too hard to cover up, I was nearly sick. I hated you then, yes, but I never wanted you dead, and the idea that the only thing stopping him was the worry about covering it up was a rather sobering thought. 

I drove you to the hospital, once they all stormed out of the room. I’m the one who told the hospital staff you were mugged. I should have told them the truth. Part of me wanted to, but I just couldn’t. I half expected you to correct them when you woke up. When I heard how close you came to dying, I actually was sick. I had to tell Dad I had eaten something bad. Any mention of you in his presence was forbidden. When he got sick a few years later, I couldn’t help but think that he deserved it, even as I continued to play the part of devoted son. I was never as strong or as brave as you were Gabriel, and I’m sorry. I wish I was. Even after he was gone, I was too afraid to contact you. I knew you would hate me, and it was nothing but deserved. I never meant for it to go so far, but I started it, and that thought has haunted me every day of my life since. 

I was so glad when I heard that you got into Stanford, only because I thought it would relieve me of my guilt. You came through it and were making something of yourself, even if your choice of school could have been better. It didn’t help though. That was why I kept track of you at first. I thought that if you had a good life, then I wouldn’t have to feel bad about everything that happened. It never worked. It was a long time, longer than I like to admit, even now, before I came to terms with your lifestyle and realized that we were the ones in the wrong on that subject. That was when I came the closest to contacting you, but I just couldn’t. I followed your career and your life with interest after that. It wasn’t just about absolving my guilt anymore. It was about pride in my baby brother. I even kept a scrapbook. Lilian has it if you ever want to see it. 

When I saw the article about you adopting your daughter, I almost framed it. You looked so happy. All three of you did. I’m no longer ashamed to admit that I cried, as I did when I learned of her death. I’m glad you were able to find your happiness again after that. I couldn’t imagine being in your shoes, but as I’ve already mentioned, you’re much stronger and braver than I could ever be. When you came out with the cure that saved my little Lilian though, I knew I couldn’t put it off any longer. I had to contact you, if for no other reason than to say thank you. I never expected forgiveness, nor could I ever deserve it. As long as I could say thank you, for her sake, that was all I wanted. When you sent the cure ahead of schedule, just because she might not make it long enough, I was floored. You once again proved that you were the best of all of us. That cure you sent could have gone to any child, but you made sure it went to mine first, and there will never be enough words to thank you for that. 

I lost touch with Luke and Ralph after that. I was no longer willing to keep quiet and pretend you didn’t exist and they were unwilling to do otherwise. I admitted to my wife and children, and even Lilian what had happened all those years ago. They never understood how I could be so cruel, but then I don’t understand it myself anymore, so I suppose that’s no surprise. I don’t know if Lilian told you but she named her son after you, and he looks so much like you, it brings tears to my eyes every time I see him, and I would be beyond proud if he turns out to be half the man you are. 

I’m not sure if you care, but my youngest grandson came out to me as gay a few years ago. I saw the fear my wife looked at me with when he told me, and it broke my heart. Almost as much as it did when he flinched away when I stepped towards him to give him a hug. I always knew that we had hurt you badly, but I don’t think it was until that moment that I realized just how badly. To fear your own family so deeply, to lose the love and acceptance that you should have always had, I don’t know how you bore it, and there aren’t words to express the depth of my regret. 

As you have probably figured out by now, I am now the sole holder of the family fortune. When I die, each of my children and grandchildren will get a few million, but the remainder will go to the Haley’s Hope foundation. Perhaps in death I can do something better than I ever could in life. I don’t want you to have to die wondering if your family cares because I do. I love you, Gabriel, and I am so proud of you. 

Goodbye,  
Michael


	3. Chapter 3

Sam knew that Gabriel was finished reading the letter when it fluttered to the desk, falling through Gabriel’s shaking hands. He reached out and ran a hand through his husband’s white hair as he waited for him to speak or move or do something. It was a long moment before he looked up and Sam could see the tears running down his face. Sam knelt next to him, turning his chair so that he was facing him, and reached up to wipe the tears from his eyes before pressing a soothing kiss to his lips. Sam could see Gabriel’s thoughts in his eyes and he asked, “Should I go pack our bags?” Gabriel nodded. “Do you have any running experiments we need to see to before we go?” 

“No. I just need to call my lab assistant and let him know I’ll be gone. He can catalogue the results for me,” Gabriel told him, glad that Sam got him so easily. 

“Okay. You do that while I’m packing,” Sam told him, kissing him again before he left the room. Sam returned a few minutes later after loading the two large bags into the car. He had packed for a week, not sure how long they were going to stay, and if they stayed longer he could always hit a laundromat. “Car’s loaded. You ready to go?” Sam asked. 

“Yeah. Let’s go,” Gabriel said getting up slowly, and Sam threaded their fingers together as they headed down the stairs. 

Once they were in the car and on the road, after they stopped for dinner, Sam suggested that Gabriel get some sleep. It was a long drive to Kansas and he knew that after the emotional upheavals of the day that Gabriel would be exhausted. He had slept until nearly noon, much more prone to doing so after his retirement, so he would be good for the night. 

It was nearly four AM when they pulled into the hospital, and Sam was waking Gabriel up. He knew that Gabriel would want to come here first before the hotel, and he would have to wake him up either way. Gabriel had to ask for Michael’s room at the front desk, but then they headed up. He was glad to find that the room was empty when they got up there. Sam offered to wait outside, but Gabriel wasn’t hearing of it. No matter what happened in that room, he wanted his husband at his side. 

His breath hitched as he saw Michael laying on the bed hooked up to so many machines and looking so old and weak. Michael didn’t wake up as he came into the room, and Gabriel took his brother’s hand in his as Sam slid a chair over for him, and he just sat there, trying to think of what he would say when Michael woke up. 

He was so lost in thought that he didn’t even realize when it happened until he heard the croaked, “Gabriel?” Even after almost half a century he recognized his brother. Gabriel had been the only one to inherit their mother’s unique eyes. “What are you doing here?” he asked, confused. 

“I got your letter,” Gabriel simply said. 

“How…Lilian,” he answered his own question with a sigh. “She wasn’t supposed to…”

“I know. She told me,” Gabriel said. 

“And you came,” Michael said with a soft smile as he closed his eyes for a moment. 

“I did.”

“Why?” Michael asked, not daring to hope that he would be forgiven. 

“I don’t know,” Gabriel said honestly. 

“I’m glad you did,” Michael said before turning his eyes to the other person in the room who was standing back out of the way. 

Gabriel glanced back to see what Michael was looking at, not realizing that Sam had moved, and then turned back to Michael. “This is my husband, Sam.”

Michael reached out his free hand to Sam and Sam stepped forward and took it. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Sam.” When Sam just nodded cordially, he turned back to Gabriel. “I’m sure you have a lot of things you want to say to me.”

“I don’t even know where to begin,” Gabriel said. 

“Perhaps at the beginning would be best. You can say nothing I don’t deserve,” Michael told him. 

“Do you know how long you have?” Gabriel asked. If he was going to start at the beginning, rather than just hitting the important points, he wanted to make sure he would have time. 

“At least a few weeks. Perhaps a little longer. We have time,” Michael told him, knowing why he was asking. 

Gabriel nodded and took a deep breath to collect his thoughts. “Coming out to you guys was the scariest thing I had ever done to that point. I hadn’t expected anyone to take it well. Part of me even expected to be disowned, but what happened…I would never have believed my own family capable of that. The words alone nearly destroyed me, but when you threw that first punch and then they kept coming from all sides, I honestly thought I was going to die. When I woke up in the hospital, part of me wished I had died. I had nothing. I was all alone. You said you were surprised that I didn’t correct them about what happened to me, that was because I didn’t see the point. All I wanted was for them to leave me alone and let me die.”

Tears were streaming down Michael’s face as he squeezed Gabriel’s hand, and Sam rubbed Gabriel’s back in support. They both knew that Gabriel needed to get this out. He needed to get this off his chest and be heard. “You know what the worst part was though?” Gabriel asked, and Michael shook his head. “The worst part was that the first punch came from YOU. Dad had always been rather indifferent to us. Luke and Ralph were both cold and cruel in their own ways, but you were the one I always looked up to. You were the one who always looked after me. And you were the first one to turn on me. I could have handled anything they threw at me, if only I had you by my side, but you turned on me. The hate I saw in your eyes that day…it haunted me for so long…” Gabriel trailed off as he got choked up.

Michael wanted to apologize. He wanted to explain. He wanted to do anything and everything to take his baby brother’s pain away, but there was nothing he could say that would even begin to make this better. There was nothing to explain that hadn’t been in the letter. He had to say something though, little though it was. “That moment has always been my greatest regret.”

“They actually sent a shrink to see me while I was in the hospital, you know. I don’t know, maybe they saw how close I was to giving up. I almost told the shrink the truth, once the anger kicked in, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. You know why?” Michael again shook his head. He couldn’t even begin to fathom what had stopped him. “Because I knew that if it was made public what you did, none of you would hesitate to drag my name through the mud to save your own. Even after I kept my mouth shut, kept my head down, and left you all alone, you still had to go and broadcast my secret to the world. It lost me the few friends I had left from before. If it hadn’t been for Sam here, I don’t know what I would have done.”

“I didn’t know that Luke was going to do that. If I had, I would have stopped him. I didn’t know until it was done,” Michael told him. 

“Do you know why?” Gabriel asked. He had always wondered that. What could it have served?

“Apparently, he saw you with some of your friends one day, and decided they deserved to know. That was his story anyway. I always thought he did it just to twist the knife a little more and hurt you as much as he could. I’m glad you still had Sam. I thought you met at Stanford, though?” Michael asked. 

“Yeah. Me too. I don’t think he ever realized just how much he saved me. No. He was from Lawrence too. His dad kicked him out the same day I got out of the hospital. He met me in the library and we got married two weeks later because it was the only way we could go to Stanford without parents to cosign for financial aid. If not for him, I really would have nothing.”

“You’ve been the greatest blessing in my life, too, Gabe,” Sam said softly pulling him tight against his side. 

“So, you were married for business and ended up falling in love. I’m glad. You deserved that happiness,” Michael told him. “Did you ever make peace with your family?” Michael asked Sam. 

“My Dad died six years later still cursing my name, but my brother tracked me down after a month and a half and apologized and we’ve been close since,” Sam told him. “He’s been a great brother to both of us.” A better brother than you ever were, was the unspoken statement and Michael just nodded in acceptance of it. 

“Do you know, even now, I still have the scars from that night?” Gabriel asked angrily. “Every day of my life, I have to look at them and remember.”

“Can I see?” Michael asked. He needed to bear that image too. He needed to see the extent of the damage, both physical and otherwise. It was his burden to bear more than it was Gabriel’s. 

Gabriel was usually self-conscious about his scars, even swimming with a shirt on, but in this case, he felt the same as Michael, so he started unbuttoning his shirt, pulling it to the side. Michael’s breath hitched, and a pained look came over his face, even as he pulled his hand from Gabriel’s and reached up to trace his fingers over them. “I never saw,” Michael said with a haunted voice. “I mean…there was so much blood…everywhere…I never saw what he did…God, I’m so sorry,” he choked as he looked away and let his hand fall.

“I hated you for so long. All of you, really, but especially you. The one person in my family I would have expected better from. I blocked out all the good memories of you for a long time after that. They hurt too much to think about. You were just another one of the bastards that I despised,” Gabriel told him. “Then I found another brother who really would stand by me against any enemy. He was the one who was standing at my graduation ceremony. He was the one that dropped everything to come visit when we adopted our daughter. He even made her a rocking horse. He was the one sitting by my side for weeks as my daughter fought for her life. He was the one that beat some sense back into me when my grief over her loss nearly destroyed me and my marriage. That was when I realized that I didn’t need you. I never did. You threw me away, but what I got in return was so much more.”

“I was so sorry to hear of her loss,” Michael said softly. 

“Then why didn’t you say anything!” Gabriel snapped, as close as he would ever come to yelling in a hospital. “Just a simple note. A quick email. Something! It would have taken ten seconds. I think that was one of the hardest parts about reading that letter you know? Reading that you knew. You knew that I was suffering the worst horror any parent could ever endure, and you did nothing!” he spat. 

“I should have. I must have written a hundred letters. Started a dozen emails. I picked up the phone more times than I could count to call you. I was a coward,” Michael said wiping the tears from his cheeks.


	4. Chapter 4

About that time, they were interrupted by two young men coming in. They took one look at the tears on Michael’s face and one of them said, “Grandpa?” looked at Sam and Gabriel with suspicion, noticing their tears as well which is what caused them to wait for an explanation. 

“Boys, this is my brother Gabriel and his husband, Sam,” Michael said, ignoring their sharp intakes of breath as they realized the reason for the tears. “This is my grandson Tony and his fiancée David,” Michael introduced them. 

“It’s nice to meet you,” Sam said, shaking their hands. 

Gabriel though, said, “Nice to see you again Davey,” with a grin. 

“You too, Dr. Gabe,” David said with an answering grin. 

“You know each other?” Michael asked curiously. 

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at David in question and David nodded, so Gabriel explained. “David was one of the kids in my ward when I developed the cure. I can’t believe you remembered me,” Gabriel said with a chuckle. 

“How could I forget you?” David asked with his own chuckle. 

“Well you were five years old at the time, and it was twenty years ago,” Gabriel answered amusedly. 

“You really have no idea,” David said, astonished. “You were like the greatest superhero in the world to all of us. The only reason most of us were still fighting is because we didn’t want to let you down. You were the only reason any of us had hope,” David told him, like he couldn’t believe Gabriel didn’t know that. 

Sam hugged his emotional husband to him at that, as Michael reached over and squeezed his hand, “You have touched so many lives,” Michael said proudly. 

“We’ll give you some time,” Tony said with a nod to Gabriel, ushering his fiancée out the door. “We’ll be in the waiting room.”

Gabriel was somewhat glad the interruption came when it did. Things had been starting to get out of hand, and he had needed that chance to calm down. “Did you know?” he asked Michael. 

“No. I didn’t even know David was a survivor,” Michael told him. 

“Oh, he’s more than that. The second the fda approval came down, I used most of the stock I created on the worst of my kids, and the rest of the hospital before I sent the rest to Dr. Monroe. David was one of the first recipients of Haley’s Hope. Maybe even THE first. I can’t remember what order I gave it to the kids in,” Gabriel told him. 

“That’s two of my family you saved in that first batch then. It seems I owe you double the thanks,” Michael said with a smile. 

“OUR family, Michael,” Gabriel told him. “No matter how I feel about you, we’re still family.”

Michael closed his eyes against the emotion welling up inside him. He felt that was the closest he would ever get to forgiveness from the brother he’d so wronged. “When Lilian was in the hospital, I was sitting with her when we watched your Nobel ceremony. I told her that you were my brother and she asked why she’d never met you. I didn’t tell her the whole story then. Not at her age, but I told her that I was a bad person back then and made you leave. She asked if that meant you weren’t her family. I didn’t know what to tell her, so I just told her that you sent the cure special for her and let her draw her own conclusions.”

“Of course, she’s my family. No matter the situation with you and me, I would never hold the sins of the parent against a child,” Gabriel told him. 

“She cried over Haley for days after that speech. She said she wished she could have met her cousin,” Michael said. 

“Haley would have loved to have a cousin,” Gabriel said with a fond smile. “She was always asking Dean when he was going to give her a little cousin to play with.”

“The look on his face was always hilarious,” Sam remembered. 

“I think that’s the main reason she kept asking,” Gabriel said with a chuckle. 

“Did he ever give her a little cousin?” Michael asked curiously. 

“Dean? No, he’s a terminal bachelor. I don’t think he’s ever even had a steady girlfriend to my knowledge,” Sam said with a laugh. 

“Then that is one more reason that I wish I had tried sooner to mend fences,” Michael said sadly. 

“If you had, I probably would have been far more receptive of it than I was when you finally did,” Gabriel admitted. “Oh, I would have gone off on you for sure, gave you more than an earful, but we could have gotten past it.”

“I know. I didn’t even think about how the timing must have looked until you mentioned your fame. My only thought at the time was my granddaughter. I would never have believed my sincerity had I been in your shoes either,” Michael told him, both absolving Gabriel of that guilt, and telling him that it hadn’t been on his mind. There was something else he wanted to get back to though. “You said you hated me for a long time. You don’t anymore?” 

“No. I mostly stopped hating you the time I nearly lost Sam. When I saw how much damage someone could do to someone they loved so completely, just from simple inattention, it was a rather sobering thought. What you did back then nearly destroyed me, but it was one action. Not a continuous string of them. I hated myself then far more than I hated you,” Gabriel admitted. 

“That was a completely different situation,” Sam defended Gabriel against himself. “And it was both of us hurting each other. Not just you,” he pointed out. “And it wasn’t done out of anger, it was out of grief.”

“Grief, anger, two sides of the same coin,” Gabriel said. “I’m not saying that what I did was as bad as what he did,” he tried to placate his husband. “I’m not even saying that I forgave him for it. I’m just saying that it was easier to see how it could have happened. I’m sure you remember my fit in the hospital.”

“You mean when Dr. Anderson threatened to sedate you?” Sam asked with grim amusement. At Michael’s questioning look, Sam explained. “Gabriel had been holding everything in, but during the Christmas a few days before Haley died, he finally snapped. Destroyed most of the locker room, and was throwing benches at the rows of lockers when I got there and got him calmed down.” He turned back to Gabriel. “Still not the same thing, though.” He was having none of this Gabriel comparing himself to Michael. 

“Not saying it was. It just made it harder to hold onto the blinding hatred. It still didn’t go away completely then, but it wasn’t quite so bad. It didn’t go away completely until the phone call where he put his granddaughter above his pride. That’s when I realized that I’d been holding onto it for too long. I was a far different person at fifty than I was at eighteen, and even than I am now. That person I hated so completely…he didn’t exist anymore.” Sam nodded in acceptance. He would never agree with Gabriel’s perspective of his actions back then, but this wasn’t the time or place to argue that, but he could see Gabriel’s point about Michael, however he had managed to reach it. 

Gabriel could tell that Michael was trying very hard to stay awake, and starting to lose the battle even as he put his hand on Gabriel’s arm and groggily said, “I could never earn your forgiveness, but knowing that you don’t hate me…that is enough.”

Gabriel took a deep breath as he steeled himself for what he was about to do. “No. You can’t earn my forgiveness, but forgiveness isn’t earned. It’s given. And I forgive you, Michael,” he said as he leaned over and pressed a kiss to his brother’s forehead as a tear leaked from Michael’s eye. “Now rest. We’ll talk later.”

“Thank you, Gabriel,” Michael whispered as he drifted off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Once they stepped out of the room, leaving Michael to sleep, Gabriel turned to Sam and said, “Come on. Let’s go meet some more of the family.” Sam just grinned at him and took his hand as they walked down the hall to the waiting room. He was so proud of his husband right now, he didn’t even have words, and he could tell that Gabriel felt so much lighter and freer after that. 

“How is he?” Tony asked as they came into the waiting room. 

“He’s good. He’s sleeping now,” Gabriel told them just as his phone rang. “Hang on a sec,” he told them before turning away to take his call. “Hey Max…really?...talk about timing…yeah just make a note of all the reactions and put it on ice until I get back. Which culture is it?...Huh. I didn’t expect much from that one…okay, thanks for letting me know…not sure yet. I’ll keep you updated…thanks Max.”

“Something happen with one of your experiments?” Sam asked curiously. 

“Yeah, one of the compounds I was testing showed some promising results. I’ll have to get deeper into it when I get back because it really shouldn’t have. Not this soon anyway,” Gabriel told him. 

“You’re still doing research?” David asked curiously. 

“Of course. Lots of things left to cure after all,” Gabriel joked. 

“What are you working on now?” he asked excitedly. 

“Cystic Fibrosis,” Gabriel told him. 

“That’s awesome. Oh, I wanted to ask you, how on earth did you come up with the idea to combine the enzymes with the molecular pathway restrictors to erode the telomeres?” David asked. “That was brilliant.”

“You read my research?” Gabriel asked surprised. 

“He’s a med student,” Tony told him with a grin. “He’ll talk your ear off about it if you’ll let him,” he laughed. 

“Oh lord, there’s two of them,” Sam teased. 

“What are you specializing in?”

“Genetics research,” David told him, and then they were off. 

Even after all these years of listening to his husband talk, Sam was only able to follow about ten percent of their conversation, so he turned to Tony. “Are you in school too?” 

“Yeah. I’m studying mechanical engineering,” Tony told him. 

“That sounds interesting,” Sam said, asking a few questions about what it was like. 

It was about half an hour later before someone else joined them in the waiting room and Sam and Gabriel were introduced to Tony’s parents. Michael’s son Josh and his wife Linda. They were followed by Michael’s daughter Jasmine and her husband Trent. A couple more of the grandkids stopped by at random points during the day as well and there was a steady stream of people going from Michael’s room to the waiting room. All of them greeted Sam and Gabriel warmly, thanking them profusely for coming. It was evening before a familiar face showed up. Sam and Gabriel were in with Michael and the rest of the family had already left, most of them only popping by for a little while, having jobs and lives to get back to, when Lilian arrived with her husband and little Gabriel. 

When he was introduced, little Gabriel gave big Gabriel a huge hug and climbed up on his lap, much to Michael’s amusement. Lilian leaned down to give Gabriel a hug and whispered, “I’m glad you came.”

“Me too,” Gabriel told her. 

They ended up staying for a month, staying in the same hotel they had when they met. They were invited to stay with the rest of the family but since they had all gathered at the old family mansion, Gabriel refused to step one foot in there. They left the invitation open, but no one blamed him for not wanting to come. They all knew the story. Michael had spared no details of his transgressions. Except from the little ones, and even they knew the basics. He had never wanted anyone to blame Gabriel for the distance between them. 

It was three weeks before Michael passed quietly in the night. In that three weeks, he and Gabriel had mended fences for the most part. Gabriel wouldn’t say they were close, but they were on friendly terms. It had given them both some much needed peace. Gabriel had also gotten to know the rest of the family pretty well, though he was closest with David and little Gabriel. 

They stayed until after the funeral before heading home, leaving an open invitation for anyone in the family to visit anytime. Once they got back, Gabriel made some calls to find out about David’s grades and standing before sending out a letter. He got a call from David a week later full of excitement and an acceptance of Gabriel’s offer for a summer internship on his research projects with the option for a full-time assistant position once he graduated as long as he kept his grades up. 

Since Gabriel had done it all by the book, that meant the offer was sent through the head of the medical program at Stanford where David had gone in an attempt to follow his inspiration’s footsteps, and David told him that his teachers were floored that he had gotten an internship offer from Dr. Winchester. When David said that he felt bad about not mentioning the family connection, Gabriel told him not to. That he had made the offer based on his grades and talent, not because of any connection between them, which was mostly true. David wasn’t exactly the top of his class, but he was close to it. Gabriel probably wouldn’t have chosen him if it wasn’t for the connection, but he never would have if he wasn’t up to par, so it didn’t really matter. It wouldn’t be hard to figure out if he took his husband’s name when they got married, but there was no reason to broadcast it. 

He did make it clear that Tony was welcome to join him, as if it needed to be stated, and they arrived the day after they finished their last finals a few months later. Gabriel had offered them a room at his house, as long as they could live with My Little Pony wallpaper and neither of them had any complaints at all. It helped them feel closer to their cousin they never got to meet too, so Gabriel bought a new queen bedroom set for what used to be the playroom. 

With Gabriel’s help and guidance, David ended up graduating at the top of his class two years later and got a permanent position as Gabriel’s assistant, and eventual successor. Gabriel didn’t tell him right away, but he was grooming him to take over his research. He wanted to keep it in the family if possible. He had realized he wasn’t going to be able to cure the symptoms of cystic fibrosis in his lifetime, but David could continue his work. Gabriel gradually handed over more and more of the daily responsibilities to David as the years went on, and about ten years since he’d taken him on, just after Gabriel turned eighty-two, he told David he was retiring. When David tried to protest, Gabriel assured him that he was ready, and that Gabriel would only be a call away if had any questions or needed any advice. 

Gabriel knew he didn’t have long left, though. He could feel the cold hand of death at his back, and wanted to spend his last days with his husband of sixty-five years. When he had told Sam he was retiring, Sam had just held him tightly for hours. He knew what that meant. Gabriel always said he would work right up to the end. Sam had finished his memoirs two years ago and had just been making additions and fine-tuning them since then, but when Gabriel retired, he went ahead and sent them off. He wasn’t going to let anything take away from his time with his husband. 

It was four months later, that Gabriel passed peacefully in the night, and his funeral quickly threatened to become a circus before Sam put his foot down. Only people that knew him personally were permitted to attend. No press or fans allowed. Even then, it was still packed, as all the children who’s lives he’d touched had places of honor just behind family and there were a lot of those. David and Tony had been staying with Sam since Gabriel had passed, helping him organize everything, and making sure that Sam took care of himself, which was no easy task. Sam was more than lost without Gabriel. It didn’t help that Dean had passed a few years earlier, so Sam felt more alone than ever, but he knew that it wouldn’t be long. He would see Gabriel again soon. 

It was that thought that allowed him to stand in front of the gathered crowd, and give his eulogy. “I doubt anyone here would disagree with me when I say that my husband was a great man. He dedicated his entire life to making the world a better place, and saving as many children as he possibly could. But he was so much more than just ‘the man who cured cancer’. He was a man full of so much love that he had enough for the whole world, with room to spare, and he felt so much, so deeply, that I’m sure no one else could have borne it. I met Gabriel when he was a lost lonely teenager who had lost everything, and even then I could see something special in him. When he told me that he wanted to be a pediatric oncologist even back when we were eighteen, I was shocked. How could someone who loved so much and felt so deeply cope with watching children die. You know what he told me? He said that those were the kids that needed love the most. They needed someone who could give them hope, and at the very least, give them laughter and joy in their final days. He didn’t care about the heartache he would feel for every child he lost, and he did feel that heartache. I lost count of the number of times he cried in my arms afterwards, but he got up and went right back the next day, because there were still plenty of children out there that needed his help. That was who Gabriel was. He would bear all the sadness in the world, just for the chance to make someone else’s life a little brighter. All the accolades in the world didn’t matter one whit to him, but every time someone told him that he had touched their life, it would bring him to tears. There has never been another man like him, and I doubt there ever will be, and he will be missed,” Sam finished as he went to sit down. For the rest of the service, silent tears streamed down his face, but otherwise he was the picture of calm. 

Gabriel’s ashes went on their mantle, waiting for Sam’s to join them before they would be spread off the California coast, in their old favorite diving spot. Together in death as they were in life. No one but Sam expected it to be so soon though. When he went to bed the night after the funeral, he never woke up again. He had stuck around long enough to give his husband a fitting sendoff before going to join him. His official cause of death was a heart attack, but everyone who knew them knew that Sam just couldn’t live without Gabriel. 

It was another ten years before David managed to cure the symptoms of cystic fibrosis, giving those suffering from the genetic disorder a chance to live full, healthy lives. He credited the cure to Gabriel, and decided to loop it into the Haley’s Hope Foundation, which, between Michael and Gabriel alone, would be flush with cash for many generations to come, not even counting the donations that continued to roll in. When he published the research results, there was no question that Gabriel was listed as the co-creator, so he would go down in history as the man who cured two of the leading causes of death in children. Gabriel had left a legacy that would endure the ages, and he owed it all to the husband that stood by his side through thick and thin, and a chance meeting in a library so many years ago.


End file.
